Some people believe that the centurion and his servant were involved in a pederastic relationship. Scholars believe that the centurion was a Roman officer who was in charge of a hundred foot-soldiers, and who was stationed in Capernaum.1 It is true that Roman men were often involved in relationships with their servants.2 However, there is no indication within the Bible that a sexual relationship was going on between the centurion and his servant.

Some people think that the ancient Greek words used for "servant" in Luke 7:2"Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him" Luke 7:2 ESV.
and Matt. 8:6"'Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly'" Matt. 8:6 ESV.
refer to a child sex slave. The word that is used Matt. 8:6 for "servant" is παῖς or pais. Strong's Concordance translates the word as "a boy (as often beaten with impunity), or (by analogy) a girl, and (generally) a child; specifically a slave or servant (especially a minister to a king; and by eminence to God): - child, maid (-en), (man) servant, son, young man."4 Similarly, the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary translates παῖς as "child, son, daughter; descendant; boy, girl, young man or woman; servant, slave."5 Furthermore, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon defines παῖς as "I. in relation to Descent, a child, whether son or daughter, II. in relation to Age, a child, either a boy, youth, lad, or a girl, maiden, and III. in relation to Condition, a slave, servant, man or maid."6 Thus, παῖς had several meanings, but none of the meanings infer that a child servant was used in any way sexually. Actually, the ancient Greek word that was commonly used to refer to a boy in a pederastic relationship is kinaidos or κίναιδος, which is translated in English as "catamite."7A catamite is a boy or youth in a sexual relationship with another man, and its first known use in the English language was in 1593, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.8

In Luke 7:2"Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him" Luke 7:2 ESV., the word used for servant is δοῦλος or doulos, and this word is more specific than παῖς in regards to a child's role in the family, which was specifically that of a servant. Strong's Concordance translates the word as, "a slave (literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (-man), servant."9 Likewise the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary defines δοῦλος as "slavish, servile; enslaved, subject."10 Moreover, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon defines δοῦλος as "I. a born bondman or slave, opp. to one made a slave, II. slavish, servile, subject. . . ."11 Once again, nothing sexual is inferred by the word.

2"Owners of slaves could prostitute them or use them for their own sexual purposes. There is reason to believe that many Roman gentlemen customarily employed a particular male slave for sexual release prior to marriage, and the testimony of Latin literature makes clear that in the households of the wealthy large numbers of slaves were frequently employed sexually" (Boswell, 1980, p. 78). Return

4"There were several reasons he might feel embarrassed to have Jesus enter his compound. For one thing, it is undoubtedly decorated with Roman military images; second, Jesus could accidentally come in contact with something that would make him unclean under Jewish purity laws" (Abogunrin, 1998, p. 1391). Return

2"Owners of slaves could prostitute them or use them for their own sexual purposes. There is reason to believe that many Roman gentlemen customarily employed a particular male slave for sexual release prior to marriage, and the testimony of Latin literature makes clear that in the households of the wealthy large numbers of slaves were frequently employed sexually" (Boswell, 1980, p. 78). Return